Royals Beat Stingrays 3-1 Sunday

Jan 10, 2016

01/10/2016 11:16 AM -

READING, PA-A pair of power play goals in the second period propelled the Reading Royals (17-14-2-3) to a 3-1 victory over the South Carolina Stingrays (20-13-2-1) on Sunday afternoon at the Santander Arena. Colin Mulvey had the lone goal for the Stingrays who dropped their second straight game in as many days.

With Reading goaltender Martin Ouellette and South Carolina's Branden Komm looking strong in the opening period, the game's first goal did not come until the 12:37 mark of the second period. Cam Reid. just returned from Hershey of the American Hockey League (AHL) scored for the Royals on the power play to make it 1-0. Mike Marcou's shot from the point hit Branden Komm in the mask. Dazed, the goaltender was unable to snag the rebound and Reid converted for his 11th goal of the season.

At 15:56, Justin Crandall scored the eventual game-winning goal from the left wing on the power play. Again it was Marcou assisting, moving the bouncing puck to Crandell on the doorstop. The forward notched his 10th goal of the season into the open right side of net to make it 2-0 Royals.

Mulvey would cut into the lead at the 10:00 mark of the third period, scoring his team-best 11th goal of the year. Ryan Ruikka took a shot for the Stingrays that Mulvey deflected out of midair. Ouellette made the first save, but Mulvey's second swipe at the puck trickled over the goal line to cut the lead to 2-1.

It would be Ouellette that would stand on his head in the third period to prevent the equalizer. The Stingrays peppered him with 20 shots in the third period, but the netminder made several spectacular stops to keep the Stingrays off the scoreboard.

Ouellette was rewarded when teammate Adam Comrie scored an empty net goal from his own goal line at 19:43 to make it 3-1. Ouellette earned an assist on the goal, adding to an impressive day that saw him stop 37 shots.

The Stingrays outshot the Royals 38-27. South Carolina was 0-for-5 on the power play while Reading was 2-for-6.

The Stingrays are back home on Saturday, January 16 and Sunday, January 17 versus Alaska. Saturday is a Trident Health Adult Jersey Giveaway to the first 1,000 fans and Sunday features the characters from Frozen in attendance plus $5 Kids Tickets and $5 Kids Meals as part of the Crews Subaru and Charleston County Parks Family Days. Tickets information is available at StingraysHockey.com.